Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion

A few weeks ago I attended a great event in Portland, Oregon, called Tiny Startup Camp. I went hoping to get some clearer ideas about a product or service I could launch. The “camp” was a great mix of speakers, break-out sessions, and actual time to work on things.

Raw Notes From Jason Glaspey’s Talk

We have a good quality of life here in Portland and it doesn’t take that much money to live well

There are so many other options than taking funding and hoping for a big jackpot/cash-out

Taking funding–someone else gets to decide

Not tied to someone else’s idea of success

Tiny is an attitude, it’s not just a startup. What’s the smallest, easiest way to test a market? Figure it out.

Figure out what actual needs are versus what people say they want by asking lots of questions

Passive Income

Mostly a falacy

“4-hour work week”–Some people are doing it, but not very many

You have to learn to solve little problems and how to solve them on your own–over and over again.

“Success can look very different when you don’t have financial obligations”

“Failing can be really exciting and the best possible outcome”

Don’t be so invested that failing hurts (or wipes you out)

Launch in three weeks!

“What a cool idea to bring a bunch of people together and learn something”

Jason typically spends $1,000 to $2,000 if think it has the potential to make $10,000

Measure the potential of your idea by using analytics:

Setting up a landing page that looks like you can buy something

Provide a shopping cart and see how many people attempt to use it

Add a “buy-now” button that takes people to a page that says, “We’re sorry it’s not ready, but we’ll let you know when it is.”

Passion, willingness/perseverance, and lack of fear

Work on a project that is solving a problem somewhere

Tiny filters—is your idea really “tiny?”

Pager test–If the site goes down it’s not the end of the world and while people might be upset you don’t have to fix it right away

not a ball and chain

Launch quickly–3 or 4 week to launch

Day 1 Profitability

Money comes in on the first day

Self-maintainable

if you can’t do every step of the product, don’t do it–you want to understand how it all works before you hand it off to someone else

Not overly saturated space

There is a clear path to success

Not too much success

Only sell to people with Money

Bad idea: resume service for people that need jobs, because those people don’t have a lot of money because they don’t have a job

It doesn’t feel good to take someone’s last $10

Don’t enter a market you can’t be heard in–is someone already the voice of that particular niche?

Strive to make $500 to $1,000/month in four months

Don’t be this guy: ”Create the most addictive, comprehensive, universally accessible, viral, integrated and profitable automobile-related community on the planet”

this idea is WAY too big

“Don’t confuse a startup idea with a genie wish”

“Solve a single problem, for a group of easily identifiable people, who want a solution and can afford to pay for it.”

Find a product that extends someone’s identity

Good tiny startup ideas

ebooks

membership sites

digital downloads

Bad tiny startup ideas

iOS Apps

Global domination

Advertising based

Anything you have to hire out

Acquisition only ideas–instead sell products for money!

Until you are receiving money for something you do not have a product

Manage major pain points by making them medium pain points

”just good enough” is what you’re shooting for–then find the next thing causing the most pain to your customers

Do not strive for perfection

At first, do everything yourself. You need to be involved in every step, then outsource everything you possibly can.

Know when a student is enough, or when you need a professional to do it right

Reference point: Jason pays $400 a month for adwords consultant and spends $4,000 to $5,000 on advertising (this is for a fairly mature product)

Never be afraid to put something on hold or kill it

Become a problem solver

Every time you encounter something annoying think about how you make it better

If the behavior of your microwave drives you crazy, think of how you would make it better

Get over the notion that “that will take time (assumption–too much time) to figure it out”

“Don’t be an ‘’idea guy’’. An idea guy is a stupid guy “

Solve the small problem in the easiest way possible

Find someone that already has “terms of service” and a “privacy policy” and copy theirs (if that’s okay, of course)

Re-occuring Subscriptions

Platforms Jason likes and recommends:

WooCommerce

Stripe as backend collections INSTEAD of PayPal (which is horrible for tracking refunds and other stuff)

Allegedly, PayPal gives very information about why a payment didn’t go through so a charge could have failed for any number of reasons and without knowing what the reason it is, it’s really hard to follow up with that person in a personalized way.

Pricing

Does a lower price and thus “more people to service” add more overhead?

If “yes” a higher price could be a better way to go

Hopefully less people at higher price equals same revenue

Surveying

Surveymonkey

WooFoo

Polldaddy

Give something away to entice and thank people for participating in your survey